The mouths of pets, especially dogs and cats, are more than an entrance into their digestive systems, and they are also the avenues of communication with the outside world.
Pets, like cats and dogs, investigate their surroundings with their mouths using their linguae and also emit excessive heat through the linguae. As a result, pet are susceptible to various clinical diseases impacting their mouth and teeth.
Compounding the problem is the pets' diet of easily chewed foods. Chewing or mastication is the primary way of removing plaques from the teeth. Pets provided with easily chewable foods, such as cats and small dogs, are liable to suffer from dental disease as they tend to chew less and thus incur a higher incidence of dental calculus than do larger dogs.
Dental calculus is caused by the accumulation of minerals on deposits of food debris, desquamated epithelial cells and various types of microorganisms on the teeth. Dental calculus consists of a relatively soft portion on the teeth at the supragingiva and a hard portion at the subgingiva, that is, the tooth root below the gingival margin.
Calcium phosphate accounts for most of the inorganic elements found in mature dental calculus. Dental calculus and plaque are partially responsible for gingivitis, alveolar pyorrhea, and halitosis. Dental calculus and plaque accumulation cause the gingiva to become irritated and inflamed, ultimately destroying the gums to the extent that requires dental surgery. Among the best ways to prevent the buildup of calculus and to maintain healthy teeth and gums are daily tooth brushing after each meal and regular gingival massages. Also, twice annual veterinary oral cleanings are recommended for the removal of dental calculus.
However, these preventive measures are difficult to undertake because animals are averse to tooth brushing. Furthermore, dental visits for scaling are expensive and time-consuming
Under U.S. Pat. No. 4,802,444, a pet chew or toy prophylactic of dental diseases is disclosed. The pet toy of U.S. Pat. No. 4,802,444 is designed not only to provide masticatory exercise for dogs or other carnivores, but also to perform dental prophylaxis as the animals chew the toy.
In detail, the pet toy includes an elastomeric body with at least one groove which is configured to scrape plaque and other debris from the teeth and gingiva of a pet, which is repeatedly inserted into the groove and at least partially withdrawn from the groove as the pet chews the toy.
Also, the elastomeric body of the pet toy is provided at the center thereof with a hollow core which enhances tooth and gingival scraping to remove plaque when a dog chews the toy by providing the body with the capability of resiliently bowing into the hollow core.
However, the pet chew or toy prophylatic of dental diseases in accordance with U.S. Pat. No. 4,802,444 suffers from the following disadvantages:
The elastomeric body does not provide incentive for the animal to chew it. With the lack of attractiveness, the pet toy, although placed around a pet, is not utilized as a chew, but simply as a toy that the pet plays with by its feet or transfers to its mouth. Pets do not chew the toy with sufficient strength to remove the calculus formed on the teeth thereof. In some cases pets are even indifferent to the elastomeric toy.
To avoid these sorts of problems with elastomeric toys, the body of the toy was coated with a flavorant to conceal rubber odor. Embedding a palatable agent in the elastomeric body was also tried.
Coating with a flavorant does not overcome the excellent olfactory sense of animals so that they regard it as non-edible. The palatable agent applied to the groove of the elastomeric body is just lapped with the tongue, but not chewed for the most part.
As for the palatable agent embedded in the elastomeric body, pets may try to chew the elastomeric body to eat the palatable agent at first, but they soon cease the masticatory exercise.
Consequently, pets regard the elastomeric body not as a food, but rather as a plaything, so that it is difficult to expect that the elastomeric body could guarantee active masticatory exercise to pets.
Whenever a pet eats, plaque may form and develop on its teeth and thus needs to be removed regularly. Nonetheless, the elastomeric body contributes to masticatory exercise only occasionally.
Even if the coated or applied flavorants succeed in inducing pets to play with and chew the elastomeric body, it is readily contaminated with saliva and impurities as a matter of course and thus may act as a habitat for harmful bacteria, resulting in aggregating rather than preventing dental diseases.
To solve this problem, the procedure of sterilizing, washing and drying must be conducted many times a day just after use, which is inconvenient for the pet's owner.
Composed of an elastromeric body of somewhat hardness, the pet toy of U.S. Pat. No. 4,802,444 may be expected to show little cleaning effect, but has difficulty removing the plaque attached firmly to the teeth. In consequence, the existing pet toy is insufficient to meet the function and expectancy for being prophylactic of dental diseases.
An alternative pet chew or toy for preventing dental diseases in pets is found in Korean Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2009-0003238. The pet chew article of this patent reference comprises a toy with a consumable, chewable body having at least one protrusion.
According to this patent reference, the consumable body, made of modified wheat gluten alone or in combination with other ingredients, induces pets to perform chewing activity, thus preventing dental diseases.
However, the conventional pet chew article, when chewed by pets, allows the teeth to be scrubbed only at a very partial portion (mainly end portion), but cannot function to remove plaque or calculus firmly accumulated on the gums.
To remove plaque, the consumable body should not only possess sufficient mechanical hardness, but also must be able to scrub the teeth to sufficient depth, that is, the gingival region. In the Korean Patent Laid-Open publication emphasis is placed on the fact that the pet chew is made of tough and softened materials which are chewable for an extended time and that any pieces of the article that are ingested by a consuming animal are small enough that they will not become lodged within the animal's digestive tract. Thus, its dental cleaning effect is significantly reduced.
According to the Koran Patent Laid-Open Publication, the consumable body is made with desirable hardness and does not get “gummy” or “slimy” when wet. It provides the effects of long chewing, mechanically cleaning teeth at the end portion, and preventing dental diseases with a calculus preventer. However, it is not useful for removing the plaque already firmly attached to the teeth flushed with the gingiva.